NHS England has announced the fourth round of its NHS Cancer Programme Innovation Open Call funding competition.
This round, applications are invited for innovations that focus on productivity and supporting the NHS to meet Cancer Waiting Times, as well as innovations that support the earlier detection and diagnosis of cancer.
Innovation is key to achieving the National Cancer Plan for England ambitions. Published in February 2026, two key ambitions of the plan are that: The NHS will meet Cancer Waiting Time (CTW) standards by 2029; and three quarters of people diagnosed with cancer will be cancer-free, or living well with cancer, after 5 years.
To address different stages of innovation maturity and distinct barriers to adoption, this round the Innovation Open Call will support two complementary funding models:
1. Real-World Implementation and Evaluation Funding
Funding to support the real-world deployment and independent evaluation of market-ready innovations across multiple NHS sites.
This model represents a continuation of the programme’s established and proven approach to generating robust service, patient, and health economic evidence to inform commissioning decisions.
Application is open to single organisations based in the UK or EU from the private, public and third sectors, that have a demonstratable partnership with an NHS organisation in England and an independent evaluation partner. Additional engagement with Cancer Alliances and/or Health Innovation Networks is strongly encouraged.
Projects will be 100% funded up to the total value of £3M (excluding VAT) over a maximum of 24 months.
2. Innovation Spread Funding
Funding to support the spread and embedding across multiple sites within at least one Cancer Alliance of innovations that have already independently measured and demonstrated positive patient outcomes and a favourable cost benefit or cost effectiveness profile across multiple sites.
This model is designed to “fund the change as well as the tech”, which is often crucial to enable the effective adoption and spread of proven innovations. This will be through an outcomes-based, matched funding agreement with Integrated Care Boards.
This funding is open to Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) in partnership with Cancer Alliances (through the host legal entity) based in England.
Projects will be funded up to the total value of £5M (excluding VAT) over the first 24 months of a maximum of a 36 month project.
Applications are expected to open in September 2026, but this will be confirmed in due course. See the NHS Cancer Programme Innovation Open Call 4 webpage.
Potential applicants should Register for the briefing webinar on Thursday 18th June 2026, 3:15pm - 5pm. (Please use code: SBRI)
This is the fourth in a series of competitions, supported by SBRI Healthcare. To date, over £39.9m has been awarded through the NHS Cancer Programme Innovation Open Calls across 21 projects, impacting 200,000+ patients.